Along the journey, just a few...

Two Pairs of Sisters, Three Aunties, One Mom, One Sweet Nephew.
Lovely supper together tonight.

Some of the finest friends a girl could find.
A couple days away in Canmore. Memories!

Nice scrunchy face effect.

Sisterly Squish.

Mikey and Me.

Today I flew from Yellowknife to Calgary with a 2 year old on my lap. I'm glad Tara packed a bag full of distractions (hey, I should have used the camera- that would have given me at least 5 minutes and we'd have pictures to show for it!), and one magnificent soother. We made it, Elijah is one mighty cool dude (we're working on that word), and the people beside me were patient with our sloppy Goldfish and apple juice plus floaties spilling and such. My appreciation for parents was, as expected, again stepped up a notch. It's great to be an Aunty!
Tomorrow I will drive down the number one to Regina. The last three weeks sped away, and now we're over halfway through the summer recline...and still loving it.
See you in Regina?

Back in YK

From Cowtown to the Knife...big sun, big sky, trees, rocks, and squishable babies. Yes, I'm back in Yellowknife, enjoying the small-town feel and the great people of the North. It's always an enjoyable place to be in the summer. I am staying at a friend's place, my parents are staying on the next block over, and Tim and Tara are across the street from them. I love that!

In keeping with the summer theme of nieces and nephews, Yellowknife has been no exception. Andrew, Autumn and I have been out riding bikes, playing tennis and going to the beach. Michael is 6 months old and just so sweet (yes, he's very squishy too). I love babies. Although, I can tell I've been spending more time than usual with little ones because last night I had a dream (or was it a nightmare?) that I had quadruplets rolling everywhere and I couldn't stop them from rolling, and I had no husband, and there were no Aunties or Grandmas to be found. It was terrible!

Anyway, being an Aunty is much better. Elijah makes me laugh time and time again. He's so much fun and all-boy. What a cool kid. He really likes cars and wanders up to every car he sees and tries to get in. Again, we're off the charts when it comes to cuteness, folks.

Other than hanging out with family and friends, I was happy to join in the big NWT Open. I think I have a match with Sharapova tomorrow. I've heard she's in town. I guess Nic hasn't, because he's still griping about Northern tennis. Serious though, it's fun that I'm here on the same weekend as the local tournament. It's great experience and tennis is such a good time.

A couple other random things I'm excited about- my friend Mary and I got our tickets for the Women's World Cup in Shanghai in September. I can't wait! I'll definitely be waving my Canadian flag!! And, I just read on Jason's blog that my favorite group, Caedmon's Call, has a new album coming out on August 28. This is fantastic news!

Signing off from the land of the midnight sun...

We Love Photobooth

It's a great babysitter, I tell you! Ha ha. I think Aiden took over 150 shots of himself and the babysitter this afternoon! I'm sure we'll have another hour long photo shoot tomorrow. He enjoyed the headless version the best. Good times on photobooth...we love our Mac!

Birds and Big Skies

Let me say it is great to be home. When you live overseas and travel home, you receive the gift of realizing all over again, that we live in a wonderful country. I wish that it weren't so easy for me, for most of us, to have this kind of fresh love and appreciation fade into something that is very normal, expected, and taken for granted. So what does a traveler notice as she steps back onto Canadian soil?

As a lifelong prairie girl coming from a year in a squishy skyscraper stacked city, I cannot understate the pure goodness of space and sky. One of my favorite things is looking out the window onto the perfect patchwork fields as I fly into the Regina airport. The pent up air starts seeping out, just looking at the open space! And then breathing in the fresh air, what a treat for the lungs! I can breathe again for the first time in 11 months. When I woke up the first day, I heard a strange sound coming from outside. It wasn't seven billion cars zipping down the road 32 floors below me. It was birds. I'm not really a huge bird lover, but did they ever sound lovely. Birds, and quiet. My, is it ever quiet here. The auto-pilot driving experience from Regina to Calgary is one of my favorites. When else do you get to drive through "The Friendly City", the city "Where Life Makes Sense" and "The Gas City"?!

As refreshing as it is to return to Canadian scenery (did I mention sunsets?! They don't really look the same when covered by a layer of smog), of course it is the return to the people you love most that is the best part of home. I've had a great kickstart to my summer of seeing friends and family. My sister came to Regina to hang out for the week and we found ourselves frequenting friend's homes, and, the tennis courts. Yes! It was awesome to be with Autumn, Andrew, Mom and Dad for a couple days. I have missed them so much. We spent time in Kennedy visiting my nearly 70 years married grandparents, driving Grandpa's scooter to town (and pushing it back), playing crokinole (and losing), and also seeing three cousins. It was great. Back in Regina I was glad to stop in on a ball game and connect with my old teammates. It's always so good to be at the diamonds again, though it makes me itch to get out there.

Now I sit in Heather's living room, up too early on a Sunday morning, hoping that Federer will bring home the Wimbledon title. It's wonderful to be in Calgary with the single goal of being with family. I must say that my littlest niece, Mareesa, has an overwhelming load of cuteness. I don't even know what to do with myself, she's off the charts! A week will not be enough, but I'll enjoy every minute! You can be assured that pictures will follow. Of course it is so, so good to see each one of my nieces and nephews. It's amazing how they grow and change in a year.

I will stay here for the week and wrap things up with a camp-out next weekend with some of my best friends from Regina. Then it's on to the next stop- Yellowknife. A fine place to be in the middle of summer. There's a little nephew I have yet to squish, and another I've been waiting to play with! Plus, my parents and A & A are there, too. So I'm looking forward to that. Anyway, that's all for this morning. I thought I'd better check in on the other side of the journey. Go Roger...